


Memories of Lace

by adeliesclater



Category: Kuragehime | Princess Jellyfish
Genre: Canon - Manga, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-03-14
Packaged: 2018-10-04 23:31:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10292495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adeliesclater/pseuds/adeliesclater
Summary: It’s been a while since Tsukimi had thought about her mother. Because she and the women at Amamizukan had been focusing all their attention on dresses, no one in the apartment had time to think of anything that wasn’t sewing, lace, or jellyfish. It wasn't until she took a break that Tsukimi realized how much she missed her mom.





	

Tsukimi sat alone on the floor of her room as she sketched out the last of the dresses for her new collection. Everything else she had drawn up was already sent downstairs so her roommates and Nomu were spending all of their time patterning, cutting, and sewing. Because drawing jellyfish was relaxing for Tsukimi, she didn’t think much of what she was drawing. It wasn’t until she finished her sketch and took a moment to look at the dress she drew that she realized what she made.

The dress she sketched was based on a Chrysaora quinquecirrha, or a sea nettle jellyfish. The more she looked at her sketch, the more her memories flooded back to her. She could hear her mother talking to her about the lace-like tendrils of this exact jellyfish. She thought about her mom’s promise to make her a wedding dress that resembled this kind of jellyfish. In an instant, her memory flashed from the fond memory to when she saw her mom on her deathbed.

Tsukimi pursed her lips, setting her notebook down next to her and staring at a fixed point in her room. She could hear her mom’s final words to her play in her head. Before she could get herself to react, she sobbed audibly as tears streamed down her face.

Moments passed before her hands flew up and threw her glasses across the room so she could wipe her tears. She hunched over as she pulled her legs up toward herself, curling up into a ball and crying into herself. Once curled up, Tsukimi kept her sobs quiet enough not to be heard from downstairs. As distressed as she was in that moment, she knew it would be best to stay quiet and not raise any alarms of anyone working downstairs. She stayed like this for several minutes before someone knocked on her door.

“Hey Tsukimi, how’re those designs coming?”

Tsukimi jumped, holding her breath as she stared wide eyed at the door. She had forgotten Kuranosuke was coming over to overlook the dress making process. She knew she had to respond to Kuranosuke, but in her current state she couldn’t bring herself to speak.

“Tsukimi?” Kuranosuke called out again, knocking again. Tsukimi swallowed and hoped staying quiet meant Kuranosuke would leave to ask the others if she really was in her room. In the very least that would give Tsukimi a minute to quickly clean herself up and pretend to be okay.

If only things worked out as planned.

Instead, Kuranosuke slowly opened the door, calling out Tsukimi’s name again as he peered into the room. Tsukimi flinched, watching the blurry figure enter the room. Once his eyes landed on the silent girl his hands flew to his hips, assuming Tsukimi was slacking on her job.    
“Tsukimi, we have a deadline and you’re just sitting here not doing your part? You’re the most important part of this team you know,” he scolded, mildly curious about where her glasses went. When he saw them across the room and looked back at Tsukimi’s red face, it clicked. His arms slowly dropped, realizing the mistake he made. Tsukimi whimpered as tears still streamed down her face. She still couldn’t bring herself to speak.

“Tsukimi, I’m sorry,” he said, shutting the door behind him before kneeling next to the crying girl. “What’s going on? Is the stress getting to you?” Tsukimi shook her head and watched as Kuranosuke opened his arms to her, offering a hug. She hesitated before falling into his arms and crying into his padded chest.

Kuranosuke wrapped his arms around her and pet her head as he looked around the room to try and piece together what happened. When he looked down, he saw the notebook with the design Tsukimi just finished. He saw the delicate lace-like design and pieced together that this had to do with her mom, just like the one time at the aquarium. He sighed and held Tsukimi tight, letting her cry.

“You miss her, huh?” He asked once he felt Tsukimi was calm enough to speak again. She nodded her head, sniffling and taking deep breaths to calm herself. “Was it the dress?” Tsukimi nodded again, pulling away from his arms so she could wipe her face.

“It’s the kind of dress she wanted to make me,” she mumbled, wrapping her arms around herself. Kuranosuke nodded, looking at the design. Moments passed before Kuranosuke left the room to bring back tissues for Tsukimi. She sat quietly, waiting for him and nodding in thanks when he handed them to her. As she cleaned herself up, Kuranosuke grabbed her glasses and sat back down in front of her.

“You know,” he started, waiting for her to finish cleaning herself up. “I think she’d be proud of you for making these designs.” Tsumiki let out a sound, almost sounding like a “yeah”. Kuranosuke cleaned off the dried tears from her glasses and put them back on her.

Tsukimi looked up at Kuranosuke, now clear as day, and pursed her lips. Although they came from different backgrounds, she was grateful they could at least confide in each other about this situation. It helped her feel less alone.

“Are you okay?” Tsukimi nodded again. Kuranosuke nodded back and stood up. “Come on, let’s clean you up and sit you in front of Clara for a bit.” He held out his hand for her. She took his hand and pulled herself up from the floor. After a quick stretch, she followed Kuranosuke to the bathroom to wash her face.

Minutes later, Kuranosuke led her downstairs and sat her in front of Clara as he went back upstairs to give the new designs to the others. Tsukimi stared into the jellyfish tank and watched Clara float for a while before finally saying something.

“Hey Clara. Things are getting difficult again… But having someone around who understands kind of helps.” She paused, staring at the spotted jellyfish. “I don’t know how to thank him. But… His support means a lot to me.”

Kuranosuke peeked around the corner, smiling. Even if she didn’t know how to express herself, he was just glad he could help in some way.

**Author's Note:**

> This work was actually really cathartic to write. I relate to Tsukimi on a personal level about her mother and honestly it felt nice to write about this. A lot of media portrays grief as a week of mourning and then you're suddenly okay. Tsukimi, however, is a lot more realistic. Yes you're okay, but then some days just hit you hard and you break down over something small. I'm really glad Princess Jellyfish portrays it like this. It was a relief to watch and it was honestly soothing to write about.


End file.
